Asia

The situation in Japan is a complicated disaster for the workers in that
country. There was a heavy earthquake, followed by a devastating tsunami
and there is the possibility of nuclear disaster. The earthquake and the
tsunami were the fast killers, a nuclear disaster would more likely be a
slow killer, but it is not the only one. Among the slow killers are lack
of water, food, heating, medicine, the cold and disease in the affected
area. And then there are the economic consequences in Japan and for the
world economy.

The earthquake and the tsunami are natural disasters. Much has been said
about the high level of preparedness for these calamities, but much
remains to be said about the location of towns and villages. Japanese
houses are light wooden structures that stand up to earthquakes rather
well, but they are very vulnerable to tsunami’s when built in lower
areas. But at this point in time, the problems around the relief effort
are the most important.

Particularly vulnerable are the older and younger members of society.
Already old people have died because of the difficult living
circumstances in the relief centres, many more will die because they are
unable to get out of their houses and get relief. As international
reports show, many villages and towns have not been visited by rescue
workers at all and have become veritable villages and towns of death.
For weeks and months to come, victims will be found and it will not be
easy to provide drink, food and shelter for those in the relief centres.
On a personal level, there is an endless number of tragedies. Examples
can be seen on television every day.

If further death and suffering is to be avoided it is vital that
immediate self-organisation of working people and local communities
takes place in quake-hit areas to oversee relief tasks and
democratically determine the needs of reconstruction.

The situation around the nuclear power plant in Fukushima is still a
huge threat. This nuclear power plant is 40 years old and was due to be
closed in February. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the
Japanese government gave it another lease of “life” for ten years.
Needless to say that this was a decision, no doubt born out of greed and
more profit, that approaches insanity.

Many professors of nuclear science have appeared on TV screens and in
newspapers to explain the technicalities, but the facts are that all of
the reactors are in grave danger of meltdown, some are on fire. Basins
with spent fuel rods have not been cleared away from the facility (who
knows what to do with them?) but kept there in basins in large
quantities (11.125 rods, for times the contents of the reactors!).

Some have been taken out of reactors only recently and are still very
active. Notwithstanding all the talk about safety in the designs of
nuclear reactors, it is clear that these storage facilities are outside
the inner cores of the reactors and therefore very dangerous. It also
seems that their location higher up in the reactor buildings has caused
a lot of cooling water to slosh out of these basins during the
earthquake, leaving the rods exposed and free to react with each other.

These rods are clad with a metal called zirconium, which can burn when
exposed to the extreme temperatures of nuclear fission when not cooled.
Once ignited it burns extremely hot and can hardly be extinguished.
Though the situation is constantly changing, it is clear that if a
nuclear catastrophe can be avoided, it will be through luck and not
design.

Workers at the Fukushima plant are putting up a heroic fight to avoid
further disaster under intolerable working conditions but care should be
taken that they are not forced to be heroes against their own will. It
is absolutely vital that they are relieved by others after a very short
while, so that exposure can be kept to a minimum. The same goes for
firefighters and Self Defence Force members who are sent in. Already 5
workers have been killed and 22 wounded. Japanese capitalism has always
said they did not want to become too dependent on oil for energy, but
look at the monster they now depend on!

Japan urgently needs a complete review of its energy policy (30%
dependent on nuclear power from 54 reactors). Major investments in clean
forms of energy are necessary. With profits controlling everything, the
nuclear industry will continue to produce this kind of disaster.

It is also clear that in Japan the government will need huge sums of
money for the relief operation, limited as it is, and later on for the
reconstruction of the affected areas. It will not hesitate to plunder
social programmes with the argument that funds are more urgently needed
for the earthquake and its consequences. Even though the affected area
is not an industrial centre, production will suffer.

It is very crude to believe that the scale of the destruction will lead
to people spending money in order to replace things; this is only a
one-off thing and many elderly couples simply won’t have the money to
have a new house built. Clearing up the mess will cost many months and
will be expensive as well. It is entirely possible that building workers
will be employed on the cheap on reconstruction projects. Other workers
too will be faced with the problem that they will be asked to ‘limit
their demands’ in the face of a national disaster…The government will
push forward with its plans to increase the consumption tax in order to
pay for the disaster and to cut child benefit.

In relation to the world economy, Japan will retract a lot of money in
order to finance reconstruction. The yen will be high with the
’repatriation’ of the wealth of Japanese abroad and foreign investors
pulling out of Japan, making exports more difficult. Selling assets in
terms of real estate and shares will depress prices already low because
of the crisis. As the oil fired power stations will need to run at top
capacity, an increase in Japan’s need for oil is probable. As the
Japanese economy has been in the doldrums for about 20 years it will
probably remain so for the next 10. It will certainly be unable to pull
the world economy forward.

If capitalists and the government have their way, the workers will pay
the brunt of the bill for the earthquake, the tsunami and the possible
nuclear disaster. Starting with energy and construction firms, the whole
of the economy needs to be nationalised under the democratic control of
the working class if this is to be avoided.